more time to prepare for an attack. Terry moran has that from beir beirut. And you can see that syrian media is reacting to the president's surprising decision. Reporter: Absolutely. The bottom line from syria this morning is we won. There were church bells ringing out, prayers of gratitude, and the syrian government playing patriotic music. It was the syrian army which warded off the aggression. There's no question it's a blow to president obama's credibility, and gives them more time to prepare. We have been reporting that heavy equipment, missiles and tanks and launchers have been moved off of key bases. But the united states has a lot of tools. The destroyers and aircraft carriers in the mediterranean, and still plenty of targets. Runaways, ammunition depots and bunkers, and munitions factories. Right now he doesn't want bashar al-assad to lose the war. There is no credible position to take power. He's got to damage his military enough to punish them, prevent them from using chemical weapons again, while keeping him in power. It's a tough balance. Right now the sense is that he backed down, the president backed down, and there is a huge sigh of relief being breathed in damascus. It really is the problem from hell as described before. So many people in the opposition linked to al-qaeda. What is the reaction in israel, our key ally in the region? Reporter: Worry. Concern. This is -- came as a shock to israeli government ministers, to the israeli government and the israeli public. The israeli press this morning is full of expressions of genuine concern, that when the big battle they believe they face with iran at some point over that nuclear program comes, america will not be standing by israel's side. So there is a sense that this has long-lasting implications, especially with the united states congress does not approve the use of force. Iran looming in the back of all of this. Thank you for your reporting.

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